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710 WOR dumps IBOC / HD Radio?

wadio said:
it's amazing to me that stations didn't give up on this several years ago, especially AM IBOC. When consumers reject a technology as soundly as this one, clearly it's time to move on.
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Consumer rejection of IBOC is only one piece of the puzzle. The biggest obstacle AM radio now faces is noise, from multiple sources (power distribution plants and infrastructure which have been allowed to deteriorate, poorly- or non-filtered switching power supplies in all sorts of electronic devices including computers and LED traffic signals, to name just two). The assumptions made more than 70 years ago as to what signal strength will adequately cover a given area are no longer even close to reality, thanks in large part to an FCC which refuses to enforce its own Part 15 rules on RF-generating devices. So, the FCC's solution was to allow yet another noise-maker: HD. If not for its horrific codec which causes the high audio frequencies to sound like a screech, HD might have made it in a new band with no analog stations and no problems with noise...but putting it on the AM band doomed it, and no AM operator with an ounce of common sense is going to turn off his/her analog signal, otherwise known as the signal that puts bread on the table.

If FCC commissioner Ajit Pai is really serious about "saving" AM, as he has stated, he'll start by giving AM-HD two in the hat.
 
I have to agree....the times we live in doom AM radio for technical reasons! Stations that were an easy listen 20 years ago can hardly be listened to today. The radios have gotten worse and the noise in the air is incredible. Even in Queens, stations like WABC, WCBS, WOR, WFAN and others that were great in the car now are all a buzz! Would the boomers have made WABC #1 back in the 60s and 70s if it sounded like it does today??? I remember listening to Cousin Brucie in Miami Florida on the AM radio in my Dad's Ford back in the 60s...I doubt if that would be possible today!
 
FredLeonard said:
I'm not an engineer and I defer to those of you who are on technical issues. But it seems that it's not uncommon for AM stations with IBOC to run IBOC-free - off and on - for days at a time. Is this automated operation and nobody is paying attention? Does whatever generates IBOC just turn itself on and off at random?

It all sounds like quirky technology.
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HD Radio is all computer based and when the exciter or other related equipment "soils the linen" it's pretty much a doorstop until it's rebooted. I know of stations that have operated for DAYS! (I would almost venture to say weeks) and have no clue that their HD signal died, be it from the computer technology portion or in the case of FM their secondary HD transmitter. That speaks volumes about how these stations monitor their own signals.

Prior to Tom Ray I also outlined a bunch of problems with HD Radio in Radio World, entitled HD Radio Faces Rocky Road.

OC3 said:
I have to agree....the times we live in doom AM radio for technical reasons! Stations that were an easy listen 20 years ago can hardly be listened to today. The radios have gotten worse and the noise in the air is incredible. Even in Queens, stations like WABC, WCBS, WOR, WFAN and others that were great in the car now are all a buzz! Would the boomers have made WABC #1 back in the 60s and 70s if it sounded like it does today??? I remember listening to Cousin Brucie in Miami Florida on the AM radio in my Dad's Ford back in the 60s...I doubt if that would be possible today!
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Living just 60 miles away from NYC radio I'm amazed on just how poorly these major AM signals perform today as opposed to when I was growing up. These same signals would boom in to the point where many people hardly listened to their local AMs because of the entertainment value of the NYC stations. Now, there are places where I would have heard these very same stations rock-solid that now have little to no signal.
 
Bill DeFelice said:
Living just 60 miles away from NYC radio I'm amazed on just how poorly these major AM signals perform today as opposed to when I was growing up. These same signals would boom in to the point where many people hardly listened to their local AMs because of the entertainment value of the NYC stations. Now, there are places where I would have heard these very same stations rock-solid that now have little to no signal.
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The cause of that is fourfold: 1.) increase in electrical noise due to poorly shielded consumer devices and poorly maintained power lines, 2.) overcrowding of the AM band with new stations (and power increases of former low-power stations) clogging up former "clear channel" frequencies, 3.) degradation of antenna ground systems of long-time stations causing loss of coverage area, 4.) poor quality of today's AM radio tuners.
 
satech said:
The cause of that is fourfold: 1.) increase in electrical noise due to poorly shielded consumer devices and poorly maintained power lines, 2.) overcrowding of the AM band with new stations (and power increases of former low-power stations) clogging up former "clear channel" frequencies, 3.) degradation of antenna ground systems of long-time stations causing loss of coverage area, 4.) poor quality of today's AM radio tuners.
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You've hit the nail right on the head! I've seen stations with 30+ year old ground systems that have deteriorated to the point that the reference signal strength is far below what was expected or documented years ago. Many choose not to maintain or repair them due to cost verses what they perceive as return on investment so the signal gradually goes into the dumper.

The other mentioned reasons are just as valid, especially when you see noise from CFLs and other electrical devices, and today's radio - many of them are pure junk!
 
blackgold said:
Face the facts, folks! The AM radio band is doomed. It will be obselete within 2 years.
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They said this in the early 50's and again in the 80's. Yet, AM stations are still the top billers in many markets.
 
They said TV was going to kill AM radio dead.
They said FM was going to kill AM radio dead.
They said cable TV was going to kill radio dead.
They said cassettes and CDs were going to kill radio.
They said the iPod was going to kill radio.
They said satellite radio was going to kill radio.
They said internet streaming was going to kill radio.

Which one of those things killed radio?

Do you know how many fewer AM radio stations there are this year than there were a year ago? 2. There are still 4,736 licenses, and many of them make quite a bit of money. You know, like 5 of the 10 top billing stations in America. (There were 7 LPFM licenses turned in, 22 translator licenses turned in, and 5 commercial FM's added.)

Good luck with that 2 year prediction.
 
When "Providence" has created the infrastructure, it is basically impossible to kill.
It can be poisoned, but unless you can kill what we call "physics", it will exist forever, even after after you've died,
no matter what.
 
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